Sole including a system of blisters and devices for their deflation

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to a sole for shoes which lodge two or more plastic blisters which can be deflated by the user with a simple rotation of a special device, obtaining every time a different inclination of the foot. This fact can be important for shoes for diabetics and for sportsmen.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention refers to a plurality of plastic blisters located into a sole which can be deflated one by one rotating a pushing roller whose horn presses one by one the push button of the pneumatic valves inserted into the tubes of the plastic blisters.

PRIOR ART AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention refers to a previous patent filed by the same inventor titled “Plastic bellows inserted into soles” registered at the Industrial Property of the Ministry for Economic Services in Malta, with the number 1389 on the date of Oct. 21, 1999 and consequently filed in the U.S.A. with the number U.S. Pat. No. 6,519,873, issued on Feb. 18, 2003, and in Europe with the number 1093730, issued on Dec. 22, 2004.

The main claim of this patent teaches about a shoe with a system of plastic bellows inserted into the sole of a shoe where each bellows is connected with a pneumatic valve whose button is external in order, when pressed with a finger, to deflate or inflate the external air, the user simultaneously had to press with the foot the area to be deflated.

The experience made adopting the invented previous system teaches that it was too complicate for diabetics, the main application of the invention.

Another aspect that restricted its application was the compulsory use of plastic bellows.

The present invention has the aim to enlarge and to improve the essential concepts reached with the previous cited patent solving the problems found with the use of the bellows and to facilitate its use for diabetics.

Other advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description and from the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 Is the sole of the previous patent showing the bellows and the position of the pneumatic valves;

FIG. 2 Shows the exploded view of the new sole incorporating the whole system;

FIG. 3 Shows the pushing roller where its horn presses the push button;

FIG. 4 Is the plantar view with all the elements of the system;

FIG. 5 Shows the pushing roller and the valve in the closed position;

FIG. 6 Is the same but in the opened position;

FIG. 7 The four positions of the pushing roller;

FIG. 8 The user while is rotating the rolling button;

FIG. 9 Is the exploded view of the system moved by an engine;

FIG. 10 Shows the application of two blisters into sport shoes.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to the state of the art concerning this invention, the inventor refers to the previous mentioned patent where the examiners cited other patents which treat similar subjects.

In the prior art, FIG. 1 shows the essential components of the previous cited patent , where the plastic bellows (1 a-1 b-2 a-2 b) inserted into the midsole (4) of the sole (5) may be inflated or deflated pressing with the foot the area where the user wants to move the air and simultaneously touching the button (6) of the pneumatic valve (3).

The aim of this new patent is to avoid this double movement which for some people, especially diabetics, is too complicate.

With reference to the above mentioned background out the necessity of a new patent concerning the possibility to alternate the pressure on the plantar foot comes out, having for target two essential considerations :

A) An improved use of the system for shoes for diabetics;

B) The use of plastic blisters instead of plastic bellows.

A) Use of the system for shoes for diabetics : the main target of the patent.

Diabetics generally are aged people and with some of problems in their movements, especially if obese. Therefore using the shoes adopting the previous patented system they were obliged to bend down for touching the button of the pneumatic valves for deflating or inflating the air of the bellows, this operation was very difficult for them, in some cases impossible, considering that they had to press contemporaneously with the foot the area to be deflated.

Adopting the same system in the sport shoes, this problem did not come out, obviously because the wearers were agile enough for making the same operation.

The present invention intends to solve this very negative aspect adopting a rotating system which makes the process of deflating the blisters easier.

B) Use of blisters instead of bellows.

Designing the whole system of the cited previous patent, the inventor studied the best reaction which a plastic insert could give the system and the first idea which came out was evidently the plastic bellows.

The application of bellows into a sole limits its use because a bellows, due to its two or more convolutions, needs high soles in the heel area but more important in the plantar area where the sole must have low thickness.

Another negative aspect which came out after the experience made with the bellows was that they lost the reactive memory after a short period of use and this fact made useless the whole system.

In order to obviate to this aspect it was found that instead of bellows it is possible to use plastic blisters.

These plastic blisters are essentially air chambers with a tube which comes out and can be produced with the following processes:

-   A—Blowing, in this case the blister with its tube is ready for its     use, -   B—Injection, in this case two shells will be produced and after     welded together,

The use of blisters is possible only if they can react instantaneously and this fact can happen if:

The material used for their production is a plastic material with an high elastic modulus,

The shape of the blister is similar to a leaf spring,

The possibility, only producing the blisters with injection machines, to insert a spring or a real leaf spring in order to increase the immediate reaction,

The soles (50) adopted for this patent are produced with rubber, foamed polyurethane, or other materials normally used for soles which can be compressed during its normal use, evidently only in this case the blisters, lodged into the defined points, can react.

Number and Location of the Blisters (FIG. 4).

The new invented application works with two, three or four blisters, but the best number of the blisters is four because it is the number of the basic points where the plantar foot makes its main pressure:

(14-I) is the Inversion area, where the foot touches the ground internally,

14-E) is the Eversion area, where the user touches the ground externally,

(13-P) is the Pronation area, where the user pushes for leaving the ground internally,

(13-S) is the Supination area, where the user pushes for leaving the ground externally.

Elements of the Deflating System.

The blisters are produced with their tube (12), internally this tube a pneumatic valve (15) is inserted. If this tube is far from the deflating system or curves, an additional pipe fitting connects the blister's tube with the valve.

The valve (15) is composed by the following elements (FIG. 5-6): the structure has a plurality of external teeth (15 a) for its grip to the internal part of the tube, internally it has the body of the push button (16) which is hold in tension by a spring (17) and, in the downward side by an o-ring (19) inserted into its channel (18).

In FIG. 5 the position of the inflated blister is shown: the horn (2) of the pushing roller (1) does not touch the push button (16) and consequently it is in the closed position : no air can circulate.

When the pushing roller (1) rotates, (FIG. 6) the horn (2) compresses the push button (16), the concave side (3) enters it, and the air of the blister can go out because the push button compresses the spring (17), takes the o-ring (19) away from the valve's body allowing the entering of the air from the blister (20 a) which flows outside from the discharging point (20 b).

Externally the pushing roller (FIG. 7) the numbers of each blister which is deflated one by one are shown.

The pushing roller (1) is a complex formed by the following parts (FIG. 2-3): its central body has a horn (2) with its concave part (3) for lodging the head of the push button (16) of the valve (15), in its centre has a hole (4) for the entering of the centring pin (6) made on the centre of the fixing element (7), the pin has a cap mushroom shaped (5) which maintains in a firm position the pushing roller but allows its rotation. On its surface in contact with the pushing roller a plurality of little semispheres are produced in order to block the rotation when the horn enters the push button. The fixing element (7) is glued into the hollowed part (10) of the sole or can be pre-formed into the same sole.

A segment of the pushing roller goes out through the slot (11) pre-formed in the correspondent part of the sole, that will show to the user the number which corresponds to the deflated blister.

FIG. 8 shows the simple manual operation for deflating a blister.

This system (FIG. 9) can work also with an engine (30 a), in order to facilitate the use of the invented system.

The correspondent circuit works as follows. When a sensor (37) informs a microchip (36) that the shoe is worn and the foot is raised the microchip activates the engine for moving the pushing roller (30 b) from a blister to the nearest with the same effects for the manual operation above mentioned. The power is supplied by a battery (35), lodged into a hollowed space of the sole (38), which has only to move the pushing roller three-four times a day and for few millimetres.

The pushing roller (30 b) is joined to the engine (30 a) through a screw (34) which joins the hole (33) of the pushing roller with the screwed pin (31) of the engine. This electric system does not need a switch because the sensor (37) closes the circuit when the shoe is not worn and put in motion the circuit only when the foot is raised.

FIG. 10 shows the disposition of two blisters lodged in the plantar area but with the valve directed outside the sole, as the previous cited patent and working in the same way. This case is planned for sport shoes which do not need the system for deflating the blisters and will be produced for adjusting defects of the foot as pronation or supination. 

1. A sole including a system of blisters and devices for their deflation, characterized in that one or more plastic blisters are lodged into the sole, these blisters have a leaf spring shape and are produced with a plastic material having a high elastic modulus, each blister has a tube, internally this tube a pneumatic valve is fixed, the valve has a push button, each valve is fixed to a support, over this support a pushing roller with its horn is engaged through a central pin, the push buttons of the valves are settled in order to be pressed one by one by the horn every rotation of the pushing roller, once said push button is pressed the blister is deflated and it is maintained deflated until with another rotation the horn of the pushing roller leaves it and goes to press another valve's push button of the successive blister to be deflated and the previous one becomes inflated.
 2. A sole including a system of blisters and devices for their deflation as defined in claim 1, where the plastic blister and its external tube are produced with the process of blowing.
 3. A sole including a system of blisters and devices for their deflation, as defined in claim 1, where the plastic blister and its external tube are produced with the process of injection, producing separately two shells and after soldered together.
 4. A sole including a system of blisters and devices for their deflation, as defined in claim 1, where the plastic blister and its external tube are four and lodged into the correspondent areas of Inversion, Pronation, Supination and Eversion.
 5. A sole including a system of blisters and devices for their deflation, as defined in claim 1, where the pushing roller is a complex formed by the following parts: its central body has a horn whose concave part lodges the head of the push button of the valve, in its centre has a hole for the entering of the centring pin made on the centre of the fixing element, the pin has a cap mushroom shaped which maintains in a firm position the pushing roller but allows its rotation, the fixing element is glued into the hollowed part of the sole or pre-formed into it, a segment of the pushing roller goes out through the slit pre-formed in the correspondent part of the sole, this segment will show to the user the number which corresponds to the deflated blister.
 6. A sole including a system of blisters and devices for their deflation, as defined in claim 1, where the system is activated by an engine, whose correspondent circuit works as follows: when a sensor informs a microchip that the shoe is worn and the foot is raised the microchip activates the engine for moving the pushing roller from a blister to the nearest with the same effects mentioned for the manual operation, the power is supplied by a battery which has only to move three-four times a day and for few millimetres the pushing roller, this electric system does not need a switch because the sensor closes the circuit when the shoe is not worn and put in motion it only when the foot is raised.
 7. A sole including a system of blisters and devices for their deflation, as defined in claim 1, where the blisters are only two lodged into the plantar area and the correspondent tubes including their pneumatic valves are addressed to the external side of the sole, their push button is pressed manually by the user. 